Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H70 > Reviews (1)

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H70 is clear evidence of the ever decreasing prices in the compact camera market. For about £160 the Sony H70 gives you 16-megapixels, a 10x zoom lens, a 3-inch LCD display and 720p HD video capabilities.

Overall Look and Design:

The Cyber-shot H70 is a small and compact camera. It is fairly comfortable to hold with a simple but effect comfort patch on the left side. On the back of the camera you find the menu buttons - these are perhaps a bit small but if you have nimble enough fingers won't pose any problems. As with most cameras, the zoom, on and off and picture buttons are all located along the top.

The Cyber-shot H70 is a lightweight and easily pocketable camera. Depending on the colour you choose, it may appear a bit basic and boring, but a flashy colour will definitely help the cause.

Picture Quality:

The picture quality is dependent on the camera's settings. For the basic user it delivers everything you could want, a crystal clear almost faultless image. However, with it's capabilites and a 10x zoom you would expect better, indeed it is possible to get up to 72x zoom in particular settings. However, a lot of manual adjustment is required to achieve clear and concise photos on a regular basis. Sony have provided both Smart Zoom which is for use on lower resolutions and Precision Zoom for full resolution. The Smart Zoom function was a bit of a let down but the Precision Zoom was definitely a useful addition to the camera. Sony have added a face recognition picture with up to a maximum of 8 people being identified in any single photo.

Range and Quality of Features

Sony have provided both Smart Zoom which is for use on lower resolutions and Precision Zoom for full resolution. The Smart Zoom function was a bit of a let down but the Precision Zoom was definitely a useful addition to the camera. Sony have also added a face recognition feature with up to a maximum of 8 people being identified in any single photo. Additionally there are Adult and Child identification priority modes as well as a Blink Alert and Smile feature which wait until blinking has stopped or smiles have appeared. In Manual Mode there are a great number of options available such as controlling aperture and shutter speed but for the basic every day click and go user these will be inaccessible or will go unused. You have the choice of 12 different Scene Modes - which is good but could be better. These include - Beach, Night, Portrait amongst others.

There is definitely room for additional functions. For the basic user there are automatic modes available which will help get the most out of the camera but I think it's definitely more useful to an advanced user. A great little addition was Easy Mode which actually made the whole experience of menu etc very simple just the key buttons being displayed.

Perhaps the most impressive thing from the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H70 is the Sweep Panorama function allowing panorama shooting to be simple and effective.

Video Capabilities:

It is advertised as having 720p capabilities for video but in reality it is more disappointing.

The biggest issue is the sound - the microphone on the camera picks up sounds from the buttons you press for example if you try to zoom the noise of the zoom will dominate the sounds of the video you are trying to record. The video quality was a bit of a let down but the lens had great focusing capabilities.

Memory and Durability:

The camera has a memory card slot for either Memory Stick Duo or PRO Duo cards as well as SD memory cards. You will definitely need to purchase a memory card as the internal memory has a capacity of just 27mb or 3/4 photos.

The battery life is below average and I found myself running out of battery after only about 100-120 photos depending on quality and standby time. In addition to this it felt very fragile.

Overall rating:

I give the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H70 a rating of 6.0/10. There are a number of positives to take from the camera notably the picture quality that you get for the size and price of the product - particularly impressive is the lens. However, the negatives are numerous as well and for this I would say that if you like constantly adjusting settings to get the right photo - go for this - but if you plan on taking basic click and snap pictures and video - then there are better options.